Songoftheday 4/17/16 - I hear your name whispered on the wind, it's a sound that makes me cry...

"Waiting For A Star To Fall" - Boy Meets Girl
from the album Reel Life (1988)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #5 (three weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 16

Today's song of the day comes from the songwriting/performing duo Boy Meets Girl, who had parlayed their success with such hits as Whitney Houston's "How Will I Know" to their own record contract, landing a top-40 hit in 1985 with "Oh Girl". Three years later, Shannon Rubicam and George Merrill put out their sophomore effort, Reel Life. On it was a track originally meant for Belinda Carlisle, but ultimate became their own biggest hit, "Waiting For A Star To Fall". Co-produced with Arif Mardin, the hook-filled nugget was one of the most memorable adult-pop hits of the latter part of the 80s...

"Waiting For A Star To Fall" became Boy Meets Girl's biggest hit, reaching the pop top-5 in the U.S. in December of 1988. The single also topped Billboard's Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart. Internationally, the song hit #1 in Canada, #5 in Ireland, and #9 in the UK.

Their follow-up single from Reel Life, "Bring Down The Moon", went to #28 on the Adult Contemporary list but stalled under the top-40 at #49. While the couple split romantically, they continued to record together, though they never hit the chart as a performing act since.

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In 2005, no less than three records that used this song in some way hit the charts in England and around the world. First, the Sunset Strippers remixed and reworked the original version of the song as "Falling Stars", which went to #3 on the British chart in March...

Meanwhile, Australian duo Cabin Crew got George Merrill to redo his vocals for their interpolation, "Star To Fall", which climbed to #4 in the UK that same month...

Lastly, in May, Scottish DJ Mylo "mashed up" parts of "Waiting For A Star To Fall" with Kim Carnes' "Bette David Eyes" for "In Your Arms", which went to #13 in the UK, #20 in Denmark, #22 in Ireland, and #25 in Australia...

And as a "bonus", here's the demo of Belinda Carlisle's version, which understandably didn't make the album...

Up tomorrow: A quiet storm queen is contributing 100%.